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UCIS Connects Pitt Scholars to World

In 1968, when
the University Center for International Studies (UCIS) was created as an
encompassing framework for all of Pitt’s international programs, it was unique.
Today, it’s emulated worldwide.

The design for UCIS was carefully
thought out to promote the integration and synthesis of international
knowledge, to avoid its splintering into disciplinary islands. It’s a
University-wide matrix organization that encompasses centers for area studies
and centers on topical specializations in international studies.

UCIS coordinates international
education curricula and provides support services such as the Study Abroad
Office. It does not compete with departments or schools; rather, UCIS
integrates and reinforces all the strands of international scholarship in the University
in research, teaching, and public service.

Kathleen Musante DeWalt, director of the Center for Latin
American Studies (CLAS), one of UCIS’s component centers, explains: “Because
international studies is so well integrated into the University experience at
Pitt, even
students not actively pursuing a certificate in one of our area studies or
global studies programs complete their University
education with a much more informed and sophisticated view of the world than in
many other institutions."